VILLA DE CONTAS, a town of Brazil, in the province of Bahia, 230 miles south-west from the city of Bahia, on the Brumado (Contas-Pequeno), a head-stream of the Rio de Contas (Jussiape), which rises on the east slope of the neighbouring Serra das :Ulnas, and flows thence to the coast at Barra do Rio Contas. This town, which has a mixed population (1880) of 10,200 whites, Negroes, half-castes, and Indians, lies in a fertile district producing much cotton, sugar, and tobacco. It was founded in 1715 by some enterprising " Paulista-s," who were attracted to the district by the auriferous sands washed down by the head-streams of the Jussiape. It received the title of a town in 1724, and soon afterwards most of the inhabitants removed to the present more convenient site five miles lower down the Brumado, on the high road between Bahia and Goyaz. Villa de Contas is the capital of the department of the same name, which was detached in 1833 from the old department of Jaeobina.1